India Pesticides Ltd

I am trying to figure out the chances of IPL’s main (revenue-wise) molecules getting banned.

As per mgmt. 45% of their revenue comes from 3 molecules – Folpet, Captan & one thiocarbamate herbicide (which though not specifically mentioned by them, likely is Prosulfocarb).

Here is what I found so far:-

Captan and Folpet (25% of revenue)

(i) Both these have been under EU assessment since 2015, among other things for endocrine i.e. hormone related disruptions. However nothing concrete has emerged so far and their approvals keep getting extended every year.

(ii) The corresponding body in US – EPA, too listed them in 2010 as possible endocrine disruptors in their Tier 1 testing. Captan was deemed low risk and didn’t need Tier 2 testing, while Folpet has been under Tier 2 testing since.

(iii) Possible reason for such long testing periods without any conclusion being reached could be something mentioned in scientific research available online for these molecules. Which is that – during testing (with mice etc.) their risk of causing cancer has been found to be very low. For non-cancer risks however, the transient nature of their chemistry makes it hard to find reach a meaningful conclusion. Both these molecules have been around since 1950s and have gone multiple tests across decades.

(iv) PAN (Pesticide Action Network) publishes a list of around 530 pesticides along with how many countries have banned each of those. Captan is banned in 6 & Folpet in 3 countries. The median of that list is a ban in 30 countries.

(v) One main their (Captan & Folpet’s) main advantages in use is that – they are broad spectrum (target many types of fungi) and also are multi-site (attack fungus at multiple enzyme locations).

Prosulfocarb (thiocarbamate herbicide – 20% of revenue)

So far haven’t found any major study on significant health/environment risks for this molecule. Also couldn’t find it in banned list for any country.

While Prosulfocarb was commercialized in 1980s, it doesn’t seem to have been very widely used. Apparently it is coming into prominence now as other herbicides are facing resistance from weeds. Will probably undergo more scrutiny in coming years.

The attached pdf has links to some of the webpages from which above info was derived.
Links.pdf (542.3 KB)

P.S. – I have no past experience or specific insight wrt pesticide molecules. Above is derived from what I read & understood, and hence likely to have inaccuracies.